


And Then There Were Two

by ReinangAraw



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Blood Bending, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Force Bond, Help, Lotsa plot, My first fanfic after 6 years hiatus, Plot, Pro-Bending, Reylo - Freeform, This is my first Reylo fanfic, Zutara, avatar AU, balance of the force, i basically restructured Star Wars to fit into the Avatar world, will edit tags later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21795940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReinangAraw/pseuds/ReinangAraw
Summary: All Rey wanted to do was to become a successful Pro-Bender so she can find her parents again.But life didn’t make things easy by bestowing her with powers and responsibilities that were too much for her to handle.And to top it all off, she was being pursued by a blood bender who wields a sword of fire.Reylo Avatar AU
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 9
Kudos: 19





	1. The Western Reaches

**Author's Note:**

> I have been planning this fic for a year. I'm so anxious I'm about to hurl.

Lightning streaks across the sky, illuminating a backdrop of dark grey clouds and roiling waters for a second, before both sky and sea become one and the same in the darkness. Despite sky high waves and torrential rain, The Finalizer, a Resurgent-class destroyer ship of the First Order, carried on across the vast ocean of the Western Reaches.

Howling winds echoed within the passageways and corridors of the ship. Though the walls were insulated with modern heating systems, a chill still seeped into the bones of Lieutenant Dopheld Mitaka as he hurriedly made his way to the bridge.

 _Breathe of R’iia,_ he mused, or X’us’R’iia, as the locals of Jakku calls it.

Jakku, an archipelago of nothing much but rocky cliffs, vast deserts, and more rock, stood approximately two thousand miles to the west of the Fire Nation’s Capital City. It is one of the many islands in the western half of the Ring of Fire with First Order affiliated trading ports.

It is also about a hundred miles behind them by now and Mitaka missed his temporary quarters in the Niima Outpost dormitories. Even when the X’us’R’iia raged during their short stop over, at least it was just a dry sand storm. The locals mostly only know of the desert version. That’s because the locals never dare to leave the islands of Jakku. They fear that leaving there would only incur the worst of R’iia’s wrath and Mitaka supposes they are right to think so. In land, the storm was still very formidable and could strip the paint clean off a First Order sand crawler and the naked skin off a human being. On the ocean though, the storm was a different beast, and he knows it very well after having been on this fruitless expedition for the last two years. It was not a friend to his nerves.

The floor lurched beneath his feet and Mitaka was jostled into the wall as the ship rode the waves. He could only pray that their benders are working hard to keep the ship above the raging waters.

Speaking of benders…

Mitaka crosses the threshold into the room and tentatively approaches the lone figure clad in black from head to toe standing steadily amidst the tense bustle of the bridge staff.

“Sir,”

Kylo Ren’s masked form gave no indication of noticing the lieutenant. Mitaka hesitated for a beat then spoke.

“We have received word of a deserter during the night. An escape pod was found missing from Deck C, and we have-”

“Why are you reporting this to me, lietenant?” Kylo Ren’s distorted voice rasped under the mask, but remained unmoving.

Mitaka gulped. “Ge-General Hux wants the whole ship alerted to the situation, sir. He wished to inform you.”

“Of his incompetence?”

“That- that an investigation is being performed as to whom might be the deserter and their motives, and if any intel may have been compromised. But the General believes that this does not affect the expedition and declares the situation under control.”

“Of course, he does.”

“Although the identity of the deserter is not yet found, the investigation has been narrowed down to the storm troopers, sir. A company call and assembly is being performed as we speak.”

At this, Kylo Ren sighed audibly and finally turned to face Mitaka. The cold emotionless mask rankled the young officer and he tried his best not to let it show.

“Give my regards to the general for his hard work. Although might I offer some of my own observations for the investigation, lieutenant?”

Mitaka knew this was a rhetorical question but the meek officer nodded instead. But before Kylo Ren could speak, General Hux himself walked into the bridge tailed by a few of his deputies. His hands clasped behind his back in the air of authority and his pale pointy nose in the air.

“I believe anything you have to suggest you can directly say to me, Ren. You may be the commander of this expedition, but I am still the general of this ship and its crew.” He drawled as he stood in front of Kylo Ren. Mitaka, now a small observer, shifted his eyes back and forth between the two men towering over him.

“Just as well,” Ren continued. “I hope you are aware that checking each and every platoon for a missing soldier takes up more time that could’ve been spent on actually pursuing the man.”

Hux scoffed as he took a turn about the bridge, checking on his nav officers. “I thought you better than this, Ren. There is no point in pursuing the deserter, the elements outside this ship will take care of him. Sending a platoon to fetch him is useless and will only cost us more soldiers. We have no time to retrieve weak willed men when we have a thousand more that would do the First Order proud. The assembly is merely a formality to announce the situation and to remind everyone of sanctions should they be caught attempting the same thing. My men are intelligent and well trained, but I suppose it cannot be helped for at least one in two thousand troopers aboard this ship to become stir crazy. After all, it has been, what? Almost two years of this failed expedition?”

Kylo ren was silent, and Mitaka observed the man clenching his leather gloved fists. But before he could even think of wishing for Hux to be bodily lifted in the air by an invisible force, Ren was able to collect his thoughts.

“You are not the judge to declare how my expedition is faring, General. But that is beside the point, and to return to the original topic, you claim to know your ship and crew best.”

“Of course.”

“And would you say, that even if this one trooper went crazy enough to plunge into the sea, that he is well trained enough to understand his limits and utilize his skills?”

“By gods, Ren! You can’t expect me to know what each soldier is thinking! It’s not like we brainwash them like the Dai Li of the Old Empire.”

“Answer me, Hux. Do you really think that that trooper decided to simply launch a pod into the sea and hoped to escape unscathed during the storm?”

“Get to the point, Ren!”

Kylo Ren took three strides forward until his cold mask was leveled with Hux’s pale face. “I’m saying, General. That your deserter, although it is of no consequence to me, is a brave man to test himself out there,” he paused as Hux huffed in obvious confusion.

“And if your men are as well trained as you claim them to be, then I won’t be surprised if you find that he has survived and is most likely on course to Niima Outpost by now.”

Hux is visibly annoyed by now but his expression was an unspoken question.

“What I’m saying, Hux, is that your deserter was a waterbender.”

“What-?!”

“And judging by his boldness to face the X’us’R’iia alone, he’s not one of your feeble-minded Neo-benders. No. An accomplished true blooded waterbender perhaps. Strong enough to bend through the waves. Probably one of Phasma’s best too.”

Mitaka’s eyes widened with realization. He saw Hux’s eyes widen as well and his face started to match his hair in hue. Now it was Kylo Ren’s turn to nonchalantly walk about the bridge. Some of the nav officers have tuned in to the conversation, but turned their heads back to their work when the commander passed by them.

“I suppose even if we have thousands of neo-benders on board, we cannot afford to lose any of the true benders. Snoke would be quite disappointed, don’t you think, general?”

Hux looked like he was about to start firebending out of his nostrils.

“But like I said, it is of no consequence to me. I only care about the mining expedition.”

Kylo Ren then turned his attention to the stormy view outside the bridge. Indifferent to Mitaka and the deputies scattering to their posts, and to Hux’s yelling of orders to dispatch a search party back to Jakku.


	2. X'us'R'iia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “No, I mean you were joking about waterbending, right?”
> 
> The man stopped and looked at her, confused. “Why would I be joking about that?”
> 
> Rey scoffed incredulously, “Because bending is a myth!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, but I'm about to dump a lot of plot on this one.

It was eight am on Jakku, and with her sailer perched on the crest of the highest dune, Rey the Scavenger knew that it would be a great day. The X’us’R’iia had lashed on land for two days and passed in the night, moving its wrath onto the ocean. To Rey, the days after the storm were always the best, because it meant a new set of Imperial wreckages will be uncovered.

The storm happened about once every month, and this gave Rey a great supply of material to explore, cycling through whatever wrecks show up after. But it also meant she needed to work fast because nobody can truly tell when the storm will come again. Sometimes she finds old wrecks that she’s seen already. But with the winds always changing the landscape, new areas that she might not have been able to get to before are now uncovered, and that could mean a month’s worth of portions and water for her.

It’s not just the elements she needs to watch out for, because all the other scavengers across the land are also aware of the turning of the sand. Everyone who scavenged for a living would be making their way to the Badlands before the crack of dawn, and before the last gusts of X’us’R’iia even disappeared over Kelvin Ridge.

Eight am was terribly late for scavenging. It was basically noon. But Rey had to stop by at Niima Outpost to get new canvas for her sand sailer’s mast, and reinforcement for the outriggers. A First Order ship had stopped by a few days ago that brought in new supplies.

If she was planning to take home the haul of a lifetime, she needed her sailer to be in top shape. Plus, she won’t be going to the Badlands like everyone else was; Rey was headed for Kelvin Ridge where she knew real treasure lay, and to get there she needed to pass through the Sinking Fields, the deadliest deathtrap in an already unforgiving landscape.

She’s been there once some months ago after a particularly strong storm. There she found parts of a lower ranking Imperial airship; the insignia of the Phoenix Emperor was all but lightly scratched on the walls. She was the first to have found it and so she had loaded her sailer with everything she could grab.

Big mistake.

The moment she landed on the Fields, her fully loaded sailer was swallowed up together with her treasures and Rey barely escaped with her life.

Then she went hungry for weeks trying to cobble up a new sailer.

This time she knows better, and Rey needed her transport to be quick and light as not to trigger the quicksand of the fields. Even if it was loaded with scraps.

Days like these she wishes she had bending powers, maybe sandbending or airbending would make her life easier.

But Rey didn’t have time for childish fairytales.

Tightening the last bolt on the outrigger, she luffed her new mast, secured her goggles, and inched her sailer off the edge of the sand dune. It was a high enough drop that would boost her smoothly across the innocent looking Sinking Fields.

Some scavengers would pray to R’iia before attempting something like this. But Rey knew better than to believe in false gods.

_ Wonder if I’ll see more of that airship again. _ She mused as she coasted down, bracing herself as she gained speed.

_ Maybe there’ll be more than just one airship. Maybe I might even find a nicely preserved mattress. _

Then she was on the Fields itself, with the remnants of R’iia’s arid breath behind her.

Today was going to be great.

Today was not going so great.

Rey couldn’t find the airship she saw or any indication that it was ever there. She had sailed along the seven miles of the top of Kelvin Ridge a few times back and forth. The sun was already high up in the sky for the last two hours and it was about time she conceded defeat or succumbed to dehydration.

But she didn’t want to give up so easily. She just needs to catch some shade and she’ll be good to go again.

One possibility she has been considering but haven’t really thought through was that the airship might’ve been blown out of its grave by the recent storm. It was a lower ranking airship after all, much smaller and lighter than the Ravager-class airships that were all blown apart on the Goazon Badlands. R’iia wouldn’t have a hard time pushing that over the edge and out onto the rocky sea cliffs. Although Rey hopes not, because wrecks don’t survive very long when exposed to salty air and seawater. There was a reason why even if there were hundreds of old Imperial warship wrecks scattered along the shore, they weren’t as popular as the airship wrecks.

But it was worth checking. So, Rey hid her sailer by the rock formations, secured her staff to her back, and made the slow descent to the underside.

She did not find the wreckage down there either, but what Rey found was even more exciting.

A First Order sea pod was lodged into the craggy rocks on the shore. Sure, it was a wreck by now because the hull was badly smashed, but it was new, and it means new spare parts. One new power converter could rack her up at least twenty portions. New wreckages happened often along the shores of Jakku thanks to X’us’R’iia, but they didn’t last long because scavengers would swarm on it right away to save parts from rusting in the salty air. This time, Rey had this all to herself.

The crash was recent; rust hasn’t formed in the exposed metals yet, and the interior still smells like new upholstery.

Looks like she’s getting a new bed after all.

As she made her way back to the cliff face with her new haul, Rey noticed footprints in the sand that weren’t hers. Curiosity got the better of her. It couldn’t have been a fellow scavenger since the pod was still untouched. Staff held tightly; she followed the prints into a crevice in the rock face.

Rey grabbed a fire starter from her pouch and struck it against the rock. With the weak light, she saw strewn about by the footsteps were parts of a familiar looking uniform, a white and grey helmet, a blue pauldron, a white and grey uniform jacket, and finally, at the end of this breadcrumb trail, was an unconscious man slumped against the rock.

The man is alive because she hears his labored breathing, but as much as she wants to help him right away, she can’t be too sure that he isn’t armed and might attack her if she startled him.

She stepped back a few paces and prodded his leg with the end of her staff.

“Hey, wake up.”

He grunted and eventually came to. He started for a bit, then peered up at Rey in the small light of her fire starter.

“Who- who’re you? Where am I?” he rasped.

Rey unclasped her water bladder from her belt and handed it to him. He took it hurriedly and chugged it hungrily. “You’re in a cave underneath the Kelvin Ridge. You’re one of those First Order Stormtroopers, aren’t you? I saw your pod outside on the rocks.”

“Kelvin Ridge? You mean I’m back on Jakku?”

Rey nodded and the man sighed in relief.

“Listen, I need to get to Niima Outpost.”

“D’you need to get back to your platoon or something?”

The man stood up and shook out the sand off his shirt and pants. He was young and about her height. Probably her age as well. “No, nothing like that. Uhm… I don’t think anyone from the First Order would be happy to see me. That is, if they’ve figured out that I’m already gone.”

Realization dawned on Rey as they walked out to the rocky beach. “Oh, that’s what the pod is for; you ran away?”

He didn’t say anything but that was confirmation enough.

“Well, your pod is pretty banged up already, I don’t think it’s of any use to you now, and I sort of already had my way with it.” She said sheepishly as they walked up to the wreck. He gave the pod a cursory glance with a defeated sigh. “Anyhow, if you need to get back to town, I’ll be happy to take you with me. It's the least I can do." He gave her a small smile at that. "I have a sand sailer up there on the ridge.” They made their way back to the cliff face.

“It’s no use to me now anyway. That thing is difficult to drive through the waves even if I waterbended the whole way. I’ll probably die of exhaustion before I even make it halfway back to the Fire Nation.”

Rey stopped in her tracks. “You’re joking right?”

“No, seriously, it takes a freighter two weeks to get from Niima Outpost to the closest Fire Nation island even on top speed. A pod would take me months by myself. I’ll need to board a cargo ship at least.”

“No, I mean you were joking about waterbending, right?”

The man stopped and looked at her, confused. “Why would I be joking about that?”

Rey scoffed incredulously, “Because bending is a myth!”

It was his turn to scoff, “uh, no it’s not.” And without looking away from her, he raised a hand and reached out towards the sea. Instantly a big wave crashed into the cragged rocks, engulfing both of them in a spray of seawater.

Rey sputtered and wipes the water off her face. “Okay, that was totally coincidental! There is no way you can do magic.”

The man looked seriously affronted by this. “It’s not magic, it’s bending!” then he crouched in a stance, waved around his arms in a sweeping motion, and Rey felt the air leave her lungs as she saw a long coil of water from the pools around them become airborne. “I guess you Jakku folk aren’t familiar because you don’t have benders here, but this,” he spun around slowly as the coil of water surrounded both of them like a great snake, “is waterbending.” He dropped his arms and the water fell around them like a curtain and woke Rey from her amazed reverie. He had a smug smirk on his face.

“So it’s all real?”

“Yep.”

“Bending of the elements…”

“uh, huh…”

“Earth, air, fire, water, metal, ice, sand?”

“You name it.”

“The Avatar?”

“Uh… we don’t… talk about that. But sure.”

“Woah…” Rey leaned on the cliff face, “I’ve only ever heard stories before. But I thought it was just some Eastern World mumbo jumbo that traders told to kids around campfires.”

“Well, you better believe it now. Bending is real, and that’s the main life-blood of the First Order.”

“I thought the First Order was like a mining and trading company?”

“Yes, it is, but there’s more to it than that.”

With the help of her new friend, they were able to pulley her haul up from the shore and onto her sailer. Rey went back to the cliff’s edge to bring up the rest her pulley and ropes.

“You! Over there! Halt!”

She froze. Slowly, she turned and saw a group of stormtroopers in desert gear approach her. As they neared, she heard what looked like the second in command whisper to his companion, “It’s not him. Just a scavenger from around here.” The group fanned out, others scouted the edge of the ridge to inspect the cliff face and how to descend it, while two troopers came up to her.

“Excuse us ma’am, we’re from the First Order. We see that you’ve just come from the shore below, and we’d like to ask you if you’ve seen any First Order transports down there, possibly wrecked?”

Rey shook her head calmly. “Uhm, no sir, I believe I haven’t.”

“Alright, well we are looking for this man.” The trooper held up a poster and sure enough, on it, was the face of her new friend. WANTED was written in bold letters above the picture, and below it was FN-2187. Rey presumed is his identification. “A defector who abandoned the cause of the First Order. He is highly dangerous and can be a hazard to society. Have you seen him?”

Rey’s seen him alright. He was currently hidden by the rocks just behind these troopers, busy tying up her cargo onto her sailer.

“I don’t think so. It’s just me here the whole morning. Haven’t seen anybody else around these parts.”

“Very well then, but if you do see him, you may report it to Niima Outpost at the First Order’s station. Thank you for your time.”

Rey nodded and slowly walked towards the shade of the rocks where her fugitive friend is. If she walked too fast, the troopers might think she’s suspicious. When she rounded the rocks, she saw him happily tying her cargo with expert knots.

“Hey-!”

She pressed a finger to her lips and shook her head urgently. “Your friends are out there.” She whispered.

His eyes widened. “How many?”

“Four on foot, they’re currently trying to get down the cliff. I said I didn’t see any wreckage, but they’ll know I’m lying soon enough.”

“They’ve sent a search party. They go in squads of eight, that means there might be four more out there and at least two sand sailers.”

They creeped along the rocks, making sure to stay hidden from view. Sure enough, at the end of the rock formations where the Kelvin Ridge met the Sinking Fields, were two double-sailed First Order sand cruisers. Much more modern that Rey’s cobbled up dinghy, and definitely faster if they ever gave chase. On the cruisers were four other storm troopers.

Her friend, FN-2187, cursed under his breath.

“What is it?”

“They have airbenders. Well they’re neo-benders so they’re not that powerful, but they could put up a chase.”

“Wait, what’s a neo-bender?”

“They’re non-benders that use talismans that grant them temporary bending. See those pendants they wear around their necks; those are the talismans.”

Rey glanced at him and noted his lack of a pendant. “And you are?”

“I’m a true bender. Born and raised. True bender troopers wear a pauldron. Mine was blue.”

“The troopers I just met, one of them wore a green one. The others didn’t.”

“Green is for earthbender. He’s probably a sandbender too.”

Rey mulled over their situation. They were definitely outnumbered, and outclassed in terms of transport. But even if these troopers could manipulate the elements, she was still the local, and that counts for something.

“Listen, I’m gonna get you out of here, and you'll have to trust me.”

Rey luffed her sail and it immediately caught a breeze. Her sailer slowly inched forward towards the troopers, and as they caught sight of her she flashed them a bright smile.

“Good day officers! Just a scavenger passing by!”

Deemed harmless enough, they waved her through. Rey let out a small sigh. But the worst wasn’t over yet. They were slowly coasting towards the dunes of the Sinking Fields, waiting for the breeze to get stronger, and the troopers kept on watching her.

Just as she crested a dune a good distance from them, a strong gust of wind blew her mast askew knocking her back to trip into FN-2187 who was crouched under a canvas tarp. The tarp flew off with the wind and her friend fell into the sand.

“OY!” the troopers saw everything and identified their fugitive.

“Get up and push!” Rey yelled at him as she fixed her mast to its right position. He heaved and jumped aboard just as he saw the airbenders swirling up a dust devil as they turned their cruisers around.

Their sailer tipped over the dune and with the added weight of two people and cargo, they accelerated quickly and soared into the Sinking Fields.

“Hang on! It’s gonna get a little bumpy!”

She hopes her recent reinforcements to the sailer will serve their purpose. But even if her mast is bigger and her base lighter, the extra weight might still disturb the quicksand. So, she’s gonna have to bank around onto higher dunes and avoid any shallow dips in the sand. 

Rey knows the sands of Jakku like the back of her hand and feels the surge of the wind meld with her own heartbeat, she has done this countless times before, and she knows she can’t fail now when it truly mattered.

“Hey!” he yelled from behind her. “You’re doing great! I don’t wanna demoralize you, but just letting you know that they’re gaining on us!”

“Not if I can help it!”

One cruiser was steadily gaining on them when suddenly the second one burst through the dune to their right. Rey shrieked and banked hard to avoid it, forcing the sailer to circle round right behind the cruiser that was following them.

Rey lurched her mast just in time to slow them down, because the two First Order cruisers collided in an explosion of sand and splintered wood.

“Hell yeah!” FN-2187 cheered. But Rey could only curse under her breath as the sand rumbled with a telltale groan.

“Wake up, wake up!”

Rey felt cold.

Coming to, she squinted at the light that was assaulting her eyes, and tried to make out FN-2187’s face. She was lying in what seemed to be damp sand and it was dark everywhere else except for the light that shone from the sky. 

No wait, it wasn’t the sky.

Rey sat up and her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, they were inside a huge underground cavern, and she was indeed on damp sand and her clothes were wet. The light came from a whole in the roof that was sprinkling sand down onto them. There were other holes permeating light into the cavern as well, each of them leaking sand from above. 

"The sand swallowed the cruisers and dragged us along. We fell through here while they fell there." He pointed up at the largest hole. Sand poured copiously from it and Rey traced it as it fell onto…

"Is that… water?"

"Yes. It's about a fifty meter fall straight into the lake. There's no way they would've survived that."

The underground lake's surface was still sloshing around in waves caused by the two cruiser wrecks, parts of which are slowly bobbing up to the surface, and the sand that continuously fell into it. The four stormtroopers probably taken under.

"I'm just glad my waterbending instincts are good for something. Managed to catch us with a wave before we hit the ground. Pure dumb luck."

"Don't say that, you actually saved our lives!" She beamed at him. 

He sighed. "Yeah, I guess so. Can't say the same for your sailer though, I'm very sorry."

Indeed, her poor sailer lay in a sad heap. Once again, the Sinking Fields claimed another of hers, but she could only be thankful that it wasn't her life. FN-2187 helped her to her feet and they inspected their general surroundings. 

"So this is what lies under the Sinking Fields." 

Huge stalactites hung from the ceiling supported by wide arches that divided what looked like a massive tunnel into caverns and extended far into the darkness. The light from above illuminated enough for them to walk around. Rey saw hundreds of wreckages littering the sandy floor and the shallow parts of the lake. Most of them were sand sailers and skiffs, and there were a lot of remains as well, both human and animals. Those unfortunate enough to fall into the Fields' clutches. 

FN-2187 averted his eyes when they walked by the skeletons, but Rey wasn't phased; she sees remains frequently while scavenging in the Badlands. Some were so old the bones resembled bleached coral, some wore uniforms with the Phoenix Empire insignia, and some were people she knew; fellow scavengers who were either too clumsy and fell to their death, or died of dehydration, or sometimes killed by other scavengers. Rey was very familiar with death.

"Looks like the shore ends here." FN-2187 said when they ran out of dry land. "It's all water here on out. But there seems to be more land in the other parts, although we'll need to cross the water, and we'll need a light source for when it gets too dark. I think this cavern opens up to the sea, the water is salty after all. So maybe we should make a raft? Maybe we can salvage a bit of your sailer? What d’you think? Hey, are you listening to me?"

Rey was listening at first, but something had caught her eye. Something amazing that she's only heard stories of. 

"Hey, FN?"

The man, clearly surprised to hear his name, was silent for a second. "Yeah?"

"Look over there and tell me you see it as well." She pointed across the water. There on the opposite shore, illuminated by light from a hole directly above it, was a massive skull. 

FN said "Oh, no." The same time Rey said "We have to get over there!" and ran back towards her sailer wreck.

"Wait, what? Why?!" 

"All my life, I've listened to stories that I never believed in," she got to the sailer and hurriedly dug around for a flat piece of wood big enough for the both of them. "But today, today benders exist. You exist! And now? D'you know what that is?!" She pointed again at the fossil, her eyes wide and gleaming. 

Her friend still clearly troubled, huffed. "Of course I know what that is. Do you?"

"Yeah I do!" She almost shrieked. "That, FN-2187, is R'iia!"

" _ What? _ Who-?"

Rey found the supplies she was looking for and dragged it right to shore. "C'mon waterbender! We gotta get over there!"

He reluctantly followed and bended the water to get them afloat and moving. "So R'iia, huh? The god of Jakku?"

"Who knows what it is. It isn’t much of a god if it's buried down here with other scum of Jakku. But the stories from Tuanul did say R'iia was a great creature in life, and when it died, its breath flew around looking for a new body."

"So now what? Now that you believe in the bending mumbo jumbo, you're gonna go worship this god too?"

"Heck no! Do you know how fanatical Jakkuvians are? They'll go crazy over this! Imagine telling them that they could have their very own piece of god in their homes to protect and bless them! The Tuanul tribe will probably give me their land in exchange for R'iia's tooth. I'm gonna be so rich I'll practically be a goddess. Unkar Plutt will pray to  _ me _ for forgiveness!"

FN-2187 visibly blanched. "Are you sure you're not from the First Order? Because I swear you just recited to me the company's mission and vision statement."

Their raft touched shore and Rey lit a makeshift torch with her supplies from the wreck. Both were silent as they walked up to the fossil, one out of reverence, the other out of excitement. The head was halfway buried in the sand and rock up to its pointy teeth along with the rest of the body, but there was no mistaking what it is.

"I can't believe that after two years of searching… we actually found it."

Rey turned to him in askance.

"To Jakku, R'iia is a god. But for the Eastern World, this is a Lion Turtle, and for the First Order, this is a gold mine. The source of bending, new and old."

"What do you mean?" She was listening intently. 

"Legend says Lion Turtles gave humans their bending. After the empire's great bending massacre, benders almost went extinct. The First Order saw value in benders, so they raised orphaned bender children, and I was one of them. They want to breed us to make more. But its too slow and not enough. So they realized they need to make their own benders. Those talismans I told you about? Those were fossil fragments. The First Order is a company that mines Lion Turtle fossils and sells them."

Rey struggled with her words. "I-I'm sorry to hear that, FN."

"It's alright. I've lived my whole life with the First Order, but I know that none of this is right, and I'm glad I ran away when I had the chance."

The two friends shared a smile when suddenly a strong gust of wind slammed FN-2187 against the fossil and knocked him out.

"FN!" Rey cried and faced their attacker. 

One of the airbenders had survived the fall and crawled out of the water. "You little bitch, you think you and this traitor could kill me?" 

Rey lunged at him, using her torch as a weapon. The trooper had one bad arm, but even with that handicap, his bending was an advantage and he leapt around avoiding her blows and blew sand into Rey, momentarily blinding her. 

"So the traitor was useful after all, huh? Who'd think he'd he the one to find the new mines?" She swung the torch at him and he ducked and punched her in the gut. Rey fell to her knees but the trooper dragged her up to his face by her collar. "Maybe I'll finish him, and I'll claim this little victory to myself, and you too. You're a pretty little thing."

Rey spat in his face and he threw back with a disgusted yell. 

"Why you little bitch!" He thrust his good hand at her but nothing happened. "Huh?" He thrusted again in an even bigger motion, still nothing."

"Looking for this?" She chuckled. Dangling from her hand was his yellow pendant. "Figured you can't do magic without it."

"Give that back!" He picked up her still flaming torch off the sand and taunted her with it. 

Rey huffed, hoped for the best, and imitated his hand thrusting. But nothing happened. 

"Foolish girl. Talismans don't work like that." He swung the torch and caught her up the jaw. Rey fell with a cry. "Maybe I will finish you off too." He pressed the flaming end of the torch on her chest. Rey shrieked as her wraps caught fire. She scream as edged herself backwards until she felt her back touch the fossil itself. 

_ At last, child. You have come. _

Everything was white.

Rey felt everything. Both hot and cold, floating, under water like she was drowing, weightless like she was flying. Power coursed through her veins. Everything was blindingly white, then it was blue, then it was dark again. 

Until she realized she was standing with both arms out in front of her. The surrounding air was hot and crackled with energy. The trooper who was just a while ago was so threatening, lay dead on the sand. 

Her friend, FN-2187, was awake, eyes wide open. 

"You… you just bended lightning."

Kylo Ren stood silently on the stern deck. To the random observer, he seemed as if he was admiring the distant clouds and peaceful weather conditions now that they were far from the X'us'R'iia's reach.

The Finalizer was on course to the Muskree island group, about half a day's travel away until they dock on the Hardscrabble mining settlement. 

Suddenly, Ren turned on his heel and marched right into the bridge. 

"Turn about. We must return to Jakku."

"What the blazes are you talking about, Ren?" Hux huffed. "You can't just turn around. We are already on schedule for a proper refueling and tune up on Muskree. Jakku was a pointless stop and we wasted supplies going there, if you've forgotten."

Kylo Ren wasn't in the mood for a debate. He raised his hand and immediately Hux felt his body seize and lift off the floor. 

"Turn the ship around. Or I'll make you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah, that was quite longer than I expected. Anywhooo. I'll bet some of you are wondering about the geography of this story. Well as I've mentioned, I've expanded the map to my own preferences. I have a drawing of that, and I intend to draw it digitally soon to give you a nice visual.
> 
> I initially planned to put Jakku in Si Wong desert, but my soul simply refused to believe that in an entire planet, there is only one desert biome. This started everything btw. 
> 
> Also, I love everything about Rey's life on Jakku. Not that I liked her suffering, but I think that sequence in TFA was the most beautiful and emotional scene ever. I wanted to try my own hand at something similar.
> 
> Aaand Lion Turtles. God love them.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, Rei here. 
> 
> Thanks for reading this fic. I'm still getting the feel of things here on AO3, but I'm here for the long run. 
> 
> Planning this fic took me almost a year, yet actually writing it was the hardest part. I wanted to get this out there before TROS comes out, atleast no matter what happens, I'll sort of have committed myself to updating this fic until it's done.
> 
> And yes, I have extended the map of the Avatar World to suit my personal interests. I know I'm not the only one who's ever thought their world is too small. But I've planned this out to fit plot so it's not just some random thing.
> 
> Hope, this fic has caught your interest!


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